Annealing metallization formed on integrated circuit wafers requires accurate control of the semiconductor wafer temperature and, thus, accurate monitoring of the wafer temperature. Perhaps the preferred temperature monitoring technique for such wafers uses IR (infrared) sensors to detect the the heat energy emitted from the wafer. IR sensing is preferred in part because the sensor can be located remotely, outside the processing chamber, and because of the potential accuracy of this technology. However, the potential accuracy of the IR sensing technology has not been fully realized, in part because the varied topography and the constituent materials of the integrated circuit structures formed on a wafer make it difficult to accurately monitor the temperature of the wafer